The present invention relates in general to a support member for use with a planting container arrangement for supporting decorative dressings placed within the plant container and around a planting contained therein and pertains, more particularly to a support member for placement around a plant that supports decorative finishes used in the plant container. The support member of this invention is an improvement over the conventional systems and methods used to provide a desired decorative finish with conventional materials, such as, mulch, bark, and moss.
With the conventional planter arrangements it is generally necessary to cover a planter with decorative materials to hide a gap between an outer decorative pot and an inner grow pot. The conventional grow pot is placed within the outer decorative container leaving the intermediate gap into which the decorative covering falls and collects.
This is a conventional arrangement for interior plants placed in office settings. However, the conventional planter and grow pot arrangement does not permit easily placing a decorative mulch, bark, or moss directly around the plant as described above.
Installing and maintaining interior plantings is a time and labor intensive business. A nursery, florist or other business may supply, service and maintain plants in several offices or business. Maintaining plantings often require the removal of the existing plant from the decorative container and exchanging the old with a new plant. The old plant can then be brought back to the shop to undergo additional procedures such as re-potting, grafting or trimming.
Maintenance of these decorative plantings requires the removal of the grow pot from within the decorative container. The decorative topping or dressing material (e.g., mulch, bark, decorative stones, or moss) that was added to provide an aesthetically pleasing presentation must be removed. This operation is time consuming and often produces a mess around the decorative pot.
Another drawback associated with conventional decorative plantings is that the gap between the grow pot and the outer decorative container contains a filler to keep the dressing material from between the pots. The filler may include styrofoam particles or blocks shoved or wedged in between the pots.
The conventional arrangment includes a further drawback especially when the dressing is taken out and the pots separated, then it is desirable to separate the quantity of dressing from the filler. As a result, maintaining the planting becomes a two-step process for both removing and replacing the plant and its grow pot in the ornamental outer pot.
Presently, there is no product specifically designed to assist in the operation of removing the decorative mulch or bark or moss from around the plant. Prior art teaches various types of pots and decorative containers, jardiniere, supports for pots, substrates and pot coverings.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a support member for supporting a decorative dressing material used in conjunction with a decorative pot for a plant or another pot and its plant. With the support member of this invention it has been found that the top dressing material is easily removed with little mess or waste of the dressing material.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a support member having an associated structure and functional appendages for generally stabilizing the support member, supporting the top dressing actually above the pot, and locking the support member in a generally circular shape. The support member of this invention assists in reducing the labor and time involved in removing a plant and its associated grow pot from a decorative container and, if desired, placing another grow pot and plant in the decorative container.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a support member that is adjustable and thereby adaptable for use with various sizes of grow pot and decorative containers combinations.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a support member that is economical to use and inexpensive to manufacture.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a support member that provides a supporting surface for conventional top dressing materials.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a support member that may be used more than once. The support member is manufactured from a material that can be periodically cleaned.